A/N: Shout out to BabySealLover for choosing the AMV! The next one will be Counting Stars by One Republic, which is an Axel-POV song. Progress has been SLOW since I have to re-learn where all the most viable clips for AMV making are in all the cutscenes... Remember, if you have facebook, please like my fanpage (link in my profile here) because I post more frequent updates, like how far along I am in chapters or other works, plus the art too! It'll make waiting for new chapters a little less of a drag!

Chapter XIV: Holding Onto Heaven

Starless sky,
We've got so good at pretending
There's a side, a side to you, that isn't running
And I don't know where it is that you've been hiding
But I need you tonight

The dark faded from her eyes as she awoke, and Xirena was instantly smiling. The memory of last night remained fresher in her head than a freshly picked apple, and it was a night she wouldn't soon forget. In fact, she swore she'd never forget it. Learning about love, as complex a a subject as it is, was such a great experience for her. Even better than learning about the emotion, though, was the action: The kiss. Xirena was certain she could still feel the spot on her cheek where she got her (technical) first kiss, swearing to herself that it still tingled and filled her with an ecstasy previously unknown to her. A tiny giggled rumbled in her, the movement of her abdomen jarring Sunny out of her own slumber – something the pig wasn't pleased with but accepted it regardless... it was about time to get up anyway and get ready for work.

Sunny felt Xirena begin to sit up, and thus hopped off her stomach and sat beside her. Zee stretched her arms above her head to limber up, that stupid grin not leaving her face.

"Last night was so fun, Sunny!" Xirena said whimsically. Sunny let out a grunt to convey an un-enthused 'yeah, right, sure' before Xirena continued, "I wonder what we'll do tonight?"

Xirena mused aloud as she stood from her bed, continuing to stretch. As a dancer, Xirena knew the importance of stretching after all. Stretching is good for everyone really, not just dancers, but damned if anyone else in the Organization would begin their day with a warm up stretch.

"Ok Sunny, hop in!" Xirena spoke, picking up Sunny and allowing her to jump over her shoulder and into her hood.

The Gray Area was as sparsely populated as ever, but there was no Axel to be seen. Rex, however, was there, but he was hardly a prize compared to Axel. Rex looked over to the violet headed girl who was looking around in confusion, knowing very well what she was checking for.

"He's already gone, hon." Rex called out to her.

"Oh. Ok..." Xirena responded distantly, but she pepped right back up, "Well, I'll get to see him later I'm sure!"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Rex asked with venom as Xirena approached him.

"I dunno ...are you?" She wondered with sincerity. Rex let out an exasperated 'ugh' and fell silent, "Um, do you know where he went today?"

"Not a clue, hon." The disinterested Rex replied, not caring enough to look at her, "I mean, he was gone before I even got out here so..."

"Oh ok."

"He's on an extended mission."

Xirena and Rex both jumped when they heard a voice behind them. Looking over their shoulders, they saw it was none other than Saix.

"Extended mission...?" Xirena asked with a tilted head.

"Yes." Saix responded flatly, "He won't be back tonight. In fact, I don't know when he'll be back."

"Wha? B-" Xirena began, but the cold berserker already had turned and ditched them, knowing better than to disclose any more information.

Xirena turned back around and looked sullen. She so desperately looked forward to coming home from work every night to hang out with her buddy, it was one of her only constants, and now that had been disrupted – and who knows for how long?

"Axel gone for a while? PERFECT!" Rex screamed, kicking his legs like a schoolgirl, "That means you're totes free to hang out with meeeeeeeeee."

"That's true I guess." Xirena replied, still a bit disappointed.

Instead of dwelling on this sad turn of events, Xirena chose to think about better things. She had her mind wander back to last night again and felt the dark feelings of sadness evaporate almost immediately. The girl sighed dreamily, which caught Rex's attention.

"Uhh, you ok there?" He asked, only semi-concerned.

"Oh? Yeah! Very ok!" She quickly replied, trying to hold in her glee.

"Perfect!" Said another voice popping up behind them, "That means you can do all the work today, Bubbles!"

Xigbar appeared behind them, bent down and swung an arm around Xirena's neck, a bit harshly too. It seemed more like a choke hold than an act of camaraderie as Xirena squirmed against his grip. Xigbar released Zee, who took a deep breath in.

"You and me today, Uncle Xiggy?" Asked Zee.

"You bet!" He replied, "Come on get moving, I wanna booze up and nap."

"Lucky you, hon... See you later." Rex remarked, the last thing he said before Xigbar dragged Xirena off into a dark corridor.

When the two emerged from the corridor it almost looked like they'd never even left it. The world which Xirena and Xigbar traveled to was very dark and... well, spooky. Pumpkins with sinister faces carved into them were lit by crooked street lamps, circled by screeching bats.

"Where are we...?" Xirena asked.

"Halloween Town." Xigbar said dryly, already walking away, "Come on, let's go let's go, hurry it up."

"Oh ok."

Xirena skipped after him to catch up, but the spring in her step remained once she was able to keep pace regardless. They were on a Heartless hunt today, and whatever Heartless resided in this place was sure to be a frightening thing, and the thought of what potential horror awaited them sent shivers down Zee's spine. After traversing a circular town square region, the pair came upon a large gate that lead to a more rural looking area of the town. Xigbar pushed the squeaky metal door open, revealing to Xirena a place not like she'd ever seen before. No buildings stood like here like they did in the town square, it was just flat land with slabs of stone popping up from the ground in various shapes and sizes.

Xigbar proceeded onwards and Zee followed as fear began to grow within her, as there was something inherently ghastly about this place. The stone slabs all had writing on them, and while some of the words varied, there was one 'word' that every stone had in common: R.I.P. Their path lead them down a narrow, straight dirt path that was lined on each side with these R.I.P. Stones – with a rectangular stone looking 'box' at the end of the line. The more of these slabs they passed by, the more unsettled Xirena became. The euphoria that lingered from the night before was hastily evaporating.

As much as her mind wanted to know what this R.I.P. Nonsense meant, she felt like Xigbar wasn't the one to ask about it. Zee had learned by now that Axel was her most trusted source, and for the best explanation she had to be patient. Xirena only hoped her increased absent mindedness didn't distract her from the mission too much...

"Hurry up, Bubbles, you're slacking." Xigbar shouted, irritated.

"Oh... oh ok." Xirena replied meekly, not having realized her pace had slowed in her fright. She shook it off best she could and jogged up to her partner.

"I hate this place."

Blinding white, ornate walls surrounded Axel as he walked in what felt like an eternal straight line. There were few deviations in the structure of this place, and almost all of them were useless to his mission anyway. It was far from a new experience for him anyway, he'd been here quite a few times before and never had any success. He had a rough idea of just how many floors were here by now, but Axel feared it may be fully illusory. It was damn near impossible to tell in that place: Castle Oblivion.

See, this was a rather exceptional location, like a very exclusive club. Axel has been the only member to go there so far and his mission description was always the same, vague thing. "Find the chamber of waking, Xemnas demands it above all else" – Saix repeated this to him damn near every time he sent him off to the abysmal 'castle.' Axel always had to make sure he was up exceptionally early so nobody could have the chance to eavesdrop on where he'd be going that day, despite being careful with their words, Saix was adamant about avoiding complications.

That morning was especially stressful. Axel wasn't known for his great ability to wake up in the morning, but something far worse came about. When discussing in short what he would be doing that day, or days... or weeks... Castle Oblivion missions tended to be 'extended,' but anyway... That day Axel made sure to express his false relief about not being paired with Xirena that day! The lie was already in place, so Axel figured, he had to keep it up as best as possible. He even went as far as to thank Saix for showing 'mercy' on him for giving him a decent break from 'the dunce.' Whether this was the lesser of two evils or not, which Axel had convinced himself of at this point, it felt wrong. The fiery red head seriously questioned each day now what was right and wrong, all thanks to that girl that had him consumed.

A smile came to his wear face when he thought of her. Axel wondered what she was doing right now, who she was with, where she was... Not in an obsessive, controlling way, but it was much nicer to think about than his present situation. He wondered how long he'd have to be away and what they would end up doing when he got back; he pondered how she'd react, and of course thought about what she did when she got the news this morning that he'd be away for who knows how long... He at least expected a solid hug at this point, those were becoming a regular thing and all at this point. A 'welcome back' kiss wasn't likely though, so he didn't bother even entertaining that idea.

"Hm." He hummed, taking a moment to stop.

Axel was struck suddenly by the memory of a conversation he had with Xigbar a long while ago at this point, one about Xirena. Deciding he needed a break, Axel headed over to one of the walls, and slumped down against it. This quiet place left him with too much time to think, getting inside his own head more than he needed to. Xigbar made such shady implications that Axel wished he'd pressed him more about now, but he found it doubtful that Xigbar would've told him anything of substance anyway even if he did play into the Freeshooter's hand... That's what he convinced himself of anyway. Good old ginger was certainly curious about where this girl he was enamored with came from, and moreso, just who else in the castle would know... and why. Why keep it hidden?

Something in the waters surrounding Xirena wasn't clean, and Axel had not a clue how to even begin to traverse the murk and find the clarity.

He had no way of addressing it at this point though, not so far away from home, so instead why not focus of the good? The red head hadn't forgotten the night before either and was just about equally jazzed about it as Xirena was. It was such a quick thing, but was a nice frozen moment in time in his memory. Feeling the softness and warmth of anothers skin was something Axel hadn't enjoyed in an eternity.

Hello again, diary

It wasn't a very good day today I'm sad to say. Saix said Axel would be on an 'extended mission' whatever that means... but it doesn't sound good. I think it means he could be gone for a long time... Which is a sad thing. Rex seemed happy about it though so maybe I should be happy because Rex is happy, and Rex is also my friend? I don't know, I'm very confused. Work today wasn't good either. I went with Uncle Xiggy to a place called Halloween Town and it was the scariest place I've ever seen. It was dark and spooky, and the worst part was those rocks with R.I.P. On them. They were everywhere! I don't know what they meant, but they made me scared for some reason. I'm gonna wait until Axel comes home to talk about it because I don't like the way it makes me feel, and Axel could make me feel better about it. I hope he's not gone for too long... I'm scared now. Sunny helps at least, I'm gonna hold her really tight tonight.

Plop!

A small spot on the paper of her journal was suddenly damp, and there was a wet streak trailing from one of Xirena's eyes down her face. Her writings of fear were suddenly made irrelevant by the shock of this 'eye leak' she just had. Both her eyes felt excessively watery, even, and a second string of 'water' streaked down the other side of her face and dropped onto the paper from her chin.

"H-Huh?!" She exclaimed, jumping out of her chair, "W-What's happening?"

Sunny perked up, seeing that her mother was done with her writing, but also detecting that something was up. Xirena quickly ran over to bed and hopped in, staring directly at Sunny.

"Sunny! My face is leaking!" She said in a hushed, but frantic tone. She had to be even more careful with Sunny's presence after all, "Why is it leaking...? Am I broken?"

Sunny could give no answer and merely looked upon her mother somberly. The pig may not like Axel very much, but she could see how important he was to Xirena. Sunny nudged her momma and snorted quietly.

"Yeah, you're right, sleep is probably a good idea..." Xirena agreed.

She quickly shed off her coat, boots and pants for maximum comfort and shimmied under the blankets with Sunny held close to her chest. Laying on her side, Zee looked up towards her window and out into the abyss, staring for a few moments.

I wish I knew what just happened to me...